"Killamangiro" is a song by English band,

Babyshambles Babyshambles were an English rock band established in London. The band was formed by Pete Doherty (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) during a hiatus from the Libertines. As of 2013 the band includes Mick Whitnall (lead guitar), Drew McConnell (bas ...

, released in November 2004 through Rough Trade Records. It achieved respectable chart success, peaking at #8 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The song itself features an unusual opening beat from ex-Babyshambles drummer Gemma Clarke and is recognised for guitarist Patrick Walden's "messy" style of play and frontman Pete Doherty's distinctive vocals. It is a regular feature of live setlists by the band and is one of their most popular and well known songs. The title is a

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on the name of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and further mixes in the song's lyrics about "kill nga man for his giro" – a bank deposit method often associated with

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. The track was released as a single, and subsequently included on the

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

Down in Albion ''Down in Albion'' is the debut album by Babyshambles, Pete Doherty's post-The Libertines, Libertines band. ''Down in Albion'' was released on 14 November 2005 on Rough Trade Records, although it was leaked on to the Internet on 19 October 200 ...

with different production ( Mick Jones) and a different drummer ( Adam Ficek) from the original. The circumstances of the recording of the song for the album were remarked upon by Babyshambles bass player Drew McConnell on 5 November 2005 in the New Musical Express: "We weren't planning on having 'Killamangiro' on there. We got in the room and thought, "Let's run through 'Killamangiro'", but sneaky Mick pressed record. Pete was jumping over the desk and giving the engineer a heart attack. Pete's got a thing about not releasing tracks more than once. People have written that we can't play our instruments and that's really not true because this is completely live." Notable for being the only track by Doherty to be produced by Paul Epworth.

Music video

The video for "Killamangiro" features orange tinted live footage of the band on stage, with snippets of Doherty walking down a street, out of a shop, mock hanging himself with his mic cord, flicking through a magazine, and driving along in a car (complete with a Christmas tree air freshener). Footage was also shot at the Underground Club in Stoke-on-Trent.

Track listing

*CD rtradscd201 # "Killamangiro" # "Man Who Came To Stay" # "Killamangiro" (Video) *7" rtrads201 # "Killamangiro" # "Man Who Came To Stay"

Chart performance

References

2004 singles Babyshambles songs Songs written by Pete Doherty Song recordings produced by Paul Epworth 2004 songs Rough Trade Records singles {{2000s-rock-single-stub